Gwen

"Hey, Lou, I almost forgot to tell you," said Jim. "That ghost detector you put out? It moved."
I looked up from the table in the library's lobby, where I was doing my shift. "The trigger object I stuck there in July? I forgot all about that."

"Well, I was at my desk, and it moved. Startled the hell out of me."

 "When did this happen?"

"You got here, what? Noon? About one."

I grinned. "I'll stop down and check it out, take a couple of readings. Keep me posted."

"I don't want to keep you posted," said Jim.

It had been a year since the first COVID lockdowns, back when we'd thought this would only last a couple of weeks. At the time, I'd investigated the library a bit. I'd checked out more of the history of my own home, and concentrated on finding little mysteries within a few blocks. A year of wearing masks. A year of not really having the adventures I wanted to, because it was a risk to my loved ones.

I glanced out the window. The snow from last month had turned to rain, and was coming down. My bike was parked on the porch, just out of the rainfall---I'd added a couple of alien decals to it, and a survival kit and a drink holder. I looked at the rain tracking down the windows for a moment.

You know. March. In like a Chupacabra, out like a Squonk.

She walked across the parking lot toward me, hair blowing in the wind. "I've been vaccinated," she said. "That means I'm safe." SaraLee held out her arms, and gave me a hug.

I was glad to see her, this sweet psychic who'd become one of my closest friends. I handed her a small package. "Got you a present."

SaraLee grinned. "An LHPS mask. Can't wait to wear it to work. I have the LHPS badge you gave me on my vest."

"I've seen it in the Facebook photos."

We sat down at the picnic tables outside the library. I was wearing my LHPS hoodie and my black ghost T-shirt.

"How you holding up?" she asked.

I shrugged. "As well as anyone, I guess. Paul's lonely and anxious. We got him a puppy, and that helps."

"That's cute."

"How are you doing?"

"You know, about the same. We're vaccinated now, so that's good."

"I'm glad. I'm gonna be last on the list. Never has it sucked so much to be a healthy middle-aged guy."

"Well, I'm looking forward to getting back into action," said SaraLee. "We need to start up meetings again."

"I'm hoping we can do that once everyone's vaccinated. Maybe over the summer."

"That'd be good. You see anyone?"

"Haven't seen Millie in a year. Paul and I bumped into Ashlin at McDonald's a while ago."

"We can investigate my place, if you like," SaraLee offered. "That might be a good way to start getting back into it."

"That's a really good idea, actually," I said.

We talked for a while, sitting on the bench. It felt good to sit and talk with my psychic friend, discussing haunted houses. Made me almost feel as if things could go back to normal.

"You okay?" SaraLee asked.

"No," I said. "But I will be."

It was four days later.

I was outside with Rosie when Tif showed up to babysit. "Paul's in the backyard," I said. "He's playing in the sand pit."

"How's he doing?" Tif asked.

"Probably better than I am."
She nodded. "I'm sorry to hear about Gwen dying, Daddy," she said.

"It was awful," I said. "This morning, the little pug fell off the bed, and I realized she wasn't moving. We ran her to the vet, but she died in my arms on the way. The vet said it was probably a heart attack."

"She was, what, fourteen?"

"Yeah, but still," I said. "I loved that dog. I'm still not over Kasper, and now Gwen. My heart is breaking."

"How's Paul?"

"He goes back and forth," I said. "He'll be okay for a while, and then he'll cry. He made a wish on a dandelion earlier, and his wish was that I'd never die."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him I've discovered four different healing springs, and tried them all," I said. "He told me he hoped I could live a million billion years."

"That your plan?"

"Well. I'm trying."

"Hey, Boss." I looked in the door to her new office, right across from my desk. "Welcome to the neighborhood."

She grinned, sitting behind her desk. "Thanks. We wanted to get this done a year ago, but then....COVID."

"Yeah, that screwed up a lot of stuff. As my desk is right outside your door now, I guess that makes me your receptionist."

"I guess so."

"Hypothetically, if I'd seen typos in the newsletter, would it make you happier if I pointed them out, or kept quiet and hoped nobody noticed?"
"The second one."

"Done."

"Okay."

"So, hey....This summer's Summer Reading theme is animals. For our purposes, does the Loch Next Monster count as an animal?"

The Boss thought it over. "Why not? Sure, let's go with that."

"Great. My summer just got a lot more interesting. Has anyone checked your new office for ghosts yet? I can check for ghosts."

"No. If there are ghosts in my office, I don't want to know."
"Everyone's always saying that to me. You know your old office was Annie Halenbake Ross's bedroom?"

"Well, if she's still here, she can have it."

I went back to my desk and sat down. I had two e-mails. One was from a woman who claimed to have demons in her house, and the other was wondering how to get rid of a ghost. I stared at them both for a moment, and then closed them out.

I just....Couldn't.

Not anymore.

Friday night. Family dinner. I looked up at my family across the table and said,"I'm going to get away from ghost hunting for a while."

They all looked up at me as if I'd announced I had cancer. Biz said,"Well, great. We broke Dad."

"Why?" asked Tif.

"Right now, I just can't. There's been too much death. We've been dealing with it for a year, and now Gwen, and....I can't right now. I just can't study death the way I usually do."

"How about those new shadow people you discovered?" Tif asked.

"The shadow people will be fine without me for a while. I'm still going to do aliens and cryptids, buried treasures, and fun stuff like that. But ghosts....No. Not right now."

"Are you quitting LHPS?" Tif asked.

"Well, that's convenient, because right now LHPS is suspended due to COVID. I'll ask SaraLee to field any incoming questions. But at the moment, we're not taking any new investigations anyway."

"You go looking for ghosts at work when you get bored," said Biz.

"I'll have to find something else for a while," I said. "Maybe I'll learn there's a Chupacabra in an upstairs closet. We've discovered weirder."

"I'm sorry, Daddy," said Tif.

"This isn't forever, and I'm not going to pretend it is," I said. "I'll get back to it eventually. But for now, I'm going to have to concentrate on other stuff. I'm just not up for ghosts."

We walked down the path to the garden area. I said,"We're going to be quiet, okay? Your school assignment was to listen for nighttime animals." I was wearing my black jacket, with the buttons and patches on it, and my wooly mammoth shirt.

"Okay," said Paul. We were in the nature park in Wayne Township.

"Maybe we'll hear the cicadas," I said. "Maybe a raccoon, too. Bigfoot."

"A Squonk?" asked Paul hopefully.

"Sure, maybe a Squonk."

"If we find a Squonk, I want to hug it and cheer it up. Squonks cry all the time because their feelings are hurt."
"True enough." I was feeling a little like a Squonk myself.

We threw a blanket down on the ground, and sat down. Michelle said,"I'll walk Rosie around. You guys can listen for animals."

"I brought some Play-Doh," said Paul. "If we get lost, we can make a SOS out of it."

My son and I sat in companionable silence for a few minutes. I said,"You hear some animals?"

"I hear bugs."

"Crickets. Couple of birds," I said. "You never know. Bigfoot's been seen over that way, near the pond."

"Bigfoot? The real one?" said Paul. "Not the statue on this trail?"

"No, the real one," I said. "Someone told me last summer. So we might hear him, if we're careful."

"I'd like to see Bigfoot."

"I'd like to see Bigfoot, too. I'm working on that."

We sat and listened for a little while.

"Did Gwen have a spirit?" Paul asked.

"They all do, buddy."

"Are you never going to go ghost hunting again?" Paul asked me.

"No, I will again sometime. I don't know when. I just don't want to for a while."
"We can still do alien patrol?"

"Yeah, we can still go on alien patrol."

"I think I see a Squonk!" Paul said excitedly, looking out into the dark. I couldn't see a damn thing. For all I knew, there really was a Squonk there.

"Cheer it up," I said. "Tell it we love it."

Paul called out,"We love you, Squonks!"

A few days later, we got Gwen's ashes back from the vet. They came in a little wooden box, with a metal name tag included. I sat down to fasten it to the box, the fifth time I'd done this.

Paul watched as I peeled the backing off the tag, and carefully put it on. The tears came to my eyes; I couldn't help it. Paul hugged me. I wrapped my arms around him, and held him in silence for a while.

When I got into work, there was a card on my desk. It was a nice condolence card from Jayne, my new co-worker, and said she was sorry for Gwen. I tucked it into my card file.

I hung up my pack, then pulled out a black packet. I checked inside---It contained a flashlight, binoculars, and a small notebook. I went up to the third floor. I was wearing my T-shirt with nine different cryptids on it.

Walking around up there, I stopped and looked out each large window. One in the lobby area looked northeast, in the Gross Room one looked due west, and just down the hall, one pointed southwest, which gave me almost a 360-degree view of the skyline of Lock Haven.

Which made it perfect for UFO hunting, if I got bored.

Sorry, ghosts. I'll see you later. Paying attention to the aliens for a while.

I slipped the packet into a drawer in the table. Nobody ever looked in there; I could easily ditch a time capsule there and nobody would ever stumble on it. It would hide my UFO stuff.

I turned and looked out the window, looking out over the river at the sky.

A small ray of sunshine was beginning to shine through the clouds.